


Trespasser

by Meteorga (orphan_account)



Series: Does Your Space Lion Know You're Gay? [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crushes, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Jealousy, M/M, New Relationship, Rivalry, Teenage Dorks, klance, lance and keith are both clueless, violently gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 11:44:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8101165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Meteorga
Summary: Lance makes an attempt to "get-one-over" on Keith after the two butt heads by hijacking his lion while Team Voltron enjoys some temporary downtime, but he isn't quite prepared to find a journal Keith keeps hidden inside where he vents about... well, everything, including how he really feels about Lance.





	1. Trespasser

**Author's Note:**

> I fell in love with this show almost instantly and couldn't wait to write for it.

**"Paladins! At once! The castle is in danger of being invaded as we speak!"**

Princess Allura's voice echoes through the halls of the Castle of Lions, accompanied by the steady ringing of a rather obnoxious alarm. Unbeknownst to her, the Paladins of Voltron assemble together from their rooms in record time, sharing glances before darting to the Bridge to get an assessment of their situation before entering their respective hangers.

**"Quickly!"**

This time, her words are an echo to the five young pilots, as they are standing in the same room, each sharing an equal amount of confusion. Keith, cracking his knuckles and looking moderately peeved. Lance, shifting from heel to toe, clearly struggling to grasp the situation after his interrupted slumber. Pidge appears perplexed, sending a glance to Shiro, who stands sternly with his arms crossed. Hunk is the first to pick up one of the balloons that are now decorating the area, as Allura turns at the sound of Coran clearing his throat.

"Oh! You made significantly better time than last we tried this!" Allura remarks, pleased with the improvement, unaware of the annoyance aimed her way.

"What's going on?" Shiro asks first, stepping forward and sweeping an arm behind him to delay Keith's advance, who appears a second away from a sleep-deprived irritable rant. "Are we not under attack?"

"And what's with the balloons? Is there a party?” Hunk inquires, releasing his balloon and watching it bounce off the ground. “Because I don't mind a party, but a little bit more sleep would have been nice… But if there are sweets then a man can learn to forgive."

Lance becomes much more lively at this, his arms stretching outward as he attempts to release all the tightness from his body. “A party? Princess, I didn’t know you had it in you!” He snickers, turning to watch Hunk attempting to rest within a pile of balloons with much amusement.

"You're absolutely right, Hunk!" Coran speaks up excitedly, pulling two noises makers from his pockets and blowing air into them both simultaneously, creating a noise better at garnering sympathy instead of bolstering enthusiasm. “Celebrations are indeed best when they’re a surprise, and what better surprise than finding out certain death isn’t looming above you?”

“The decorations and setup were Coran’s idea, sorry to worry, but I agreed that after some of our recent victories that perhaps a celebration was in order!” She laughed to herself, and her genuine joy proved to be quite infectious. Even all the tension Keith was previously holding began to melt, much to Shiro’s relief.

“Alright, then. Team Voltron, enjoy yourselves!” Shiro commanded, alongside a hearty chuckle.

Lance begins his attempt to blindside Allura with invitations of a dance together as Coran ushers everyone in the direction of the ballroom. Hunk pops a balloon or two as he rises from the floor, and Allura uses the momentary distraction to slip away from Lance, leaving ahead of Coran, with the Paladins lagging behind him.

“Give it a rest, Lance, she’s clearly not interested.” Keith said, groaning.

“Oh, yeah? Ever heard of playing hard-to-get, Keith?” Lance retorts, emphasizing his rival’s name as though it were a dirty word scribbled on the wall of a playground.

“Guys, guys… Settle down, we’re supposed to be having fun!” Pidge makes the executive decision to stand between the two, since Shiro has played mediator between them more than enough times by now. “You’re going to ruin the party before it even gets started…”

“Whatever…” Keith shrugs the situation off, making pace down the hall to follow the Hunk and Shiro. Lance almost marches off after him, before stopping in his tracks, whirling back around to face Pidge.

“Sorry, I just can’t stand that guy sometimes!” Lance huffs, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. “What’s his problem, anyway? Always trying to shoot me down when it comes to Allura…”

“Pretty sure the shooting down is coming from Allura herself, you know, her not being interested in you and all.” Pidge snickers, waiting a pause for Lance to register the remark.

“Hey!” Lance makes a wounded face for a moment, before it collapses into laughter. “I know that, but a guy can’t have a little fun being a flirt? But Keith always looks at me afterwards like I kicked a puppy!” Lance scoffs, walking off with Pidge not too far behind him.

Pidge thought that sounded much like jealousy, but shelved the idea just in time to enter the ballroom and watch Hunk consume some strange goo whole.

“You guys have to try this, it’s a lot tastier than it looks, trust me!” Hunk announces to the room, scooping more of what could best be described as some form of space gelatin onto his plate. It doesn’t take long for the others to scramble over, the small table on the side of the big open room suddenly flooded with activity.

Keith stands off by himself for a good chunk of time, although even his sour mood can’t stop him from releasing a laugh every so often at the ridiculous sights before him as Coran instructs his fellow Paladins on how to play several Altean party games. Apparently, Coran is quite the party animal. Shiro makes his way over, joining Keith in sitting along the wall opposite the activities.

“Is everything okay?” Shiro asked, genuine worry in his tone. He quickly became almost a big brother figure to the entire team, and definitely to Keith, who found it so much easier to speak honestly around the man. Keith had often been described as a hot head by his instructors, a loose cannon by his classmates. Shiro described him as passionate, and made more an effort than most to see through to the heart of what Keith was really feeling or thinking.

“It’s just Lance. I can only take so much of the guy in one day, alright?” Keith sighed, slouching against the wall.

“The day’s barely started,” Shiro began, shifting to make himself a bit more comfortable. “look, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. Lance can be a bit much sometimes, but I think there’s more to it than that. You should just talk to him.” The Paladin stood up and made his way to the rest of the party before Keith could object to the suggestion.

“Fat chance.” Keith said to himself, an annoyed sigh escaping as he stood to follow. He quickly integrated with the others, even managing to enjoy himself quite a bit with some of Coran’s strange games.

An hour had passed before any seemed to realize it, laughter echoing through the room as Hunk wipes a chunk of space jello off his cheek. Music begins to fill the room, the instruments are strange, but not unpleasant, and as though a demonstration, Allura and Coran take to the center of the room and begin to dance. It’s not too unlike ballroom dancing on Earth, but clearly a different beast entirely. Shiro, Hunk and Pidge get out their chairs and attempt to join in on the fun, while Keith remains seated at the food table, aiming sideways glances at Lance sitting on the stairs.

“Lance, Keith! Join us!” Coran called out, giving Allura a twirl as she spins away. She stops in front of Keith, extending her hand in a friendly invitation. Surprisingly to her, and everyone else, he takes it, standing up and pushing his chair in with his foot, attempting to mimic Coran’s earlier moves to the best of his ability as the pair begins to glide across the room. There are smiles and cheers from the rest of the team, save for Lance, who is eyeing daggers at Keith as he stands up.

 _Maybe you can try jealousy for a change_ , Keith thought, wanting to grimace at the realization that he was actually jealous of Lance. Well, not _of_ Lance, but _because_ of Lance. The thought turned his stomach, and had he not been preoccupied with Allura’s hand in his, he would have squeezed with all his might just to focus on something else again. He couldn’t understand it, why such an immature, cocky, asshole like Lance could get his heart twisted into knots. The whole thing just screamed of unfairness. Every time Lance made some desperate attempt to woo Allura or any other pretty girl the team might encounter on their adventures, Keith’s blood boiled because it wasn’t him. The competing, the teasing, the laughs the two managed to share over the past few weeks… Keith had a huge crush on Lance, and admitting that to himself was almost as difficult as becoming a Paladin of Voltron.  
The boy was snapped out of his thoughts by Allura releasing his hands, delivering a curtsy, to which he gave his best polite bow. He was quite sure he saw Shiro crack a grin, and made a mental note to jab the male in the ribs when he got the chance.

The music, dancing, and general merriment had finally started to come to an end, in all the bustle of cleanup, nobody questioned Lance’s absence, figuring the boy simply wanted no part in it. The Paladins retreated to what they normally would have been doing, were they not attending a party or risking their lives to defend the galaxy as they tended to do, with Keith and Shiro working hard on the training deck, and Hunk and Pidge both in their respective rooms.

Lance had some of his own plans in mind, however, sailing through the air on one of the lion hangar zip lines, before finally landing in the cockpit. He cracked his knuckles in front of him. The controls before him were familiar, but not identical, more a sibling than a twin. He'd only ever spent time piloting Blue, and the situation before him was both exciting and slightly shameful. He knew the lions had their own awareness, and surely Red wouldn't be too pleased at the prospect of being taken out on a joy ride. It was just some last-minute scheme he cooked up when his anger ran high. Lance wasn't good at impulsive, he was good at flirting, sarcasm, and making a fool of himself under pressure. Impulsive was Keith's thing, and Keith danced with Allura right in front of him after grilling him for asking her earlier!

“Okay, Keith, let’s see what this bad boy can do.”


	2. Chapter 2

Lance made his best effort to steer the lion, but Red made it pretty clear that the two of them were going to operate on some form of stubborn auto-pilot for this journey. They rocketed away from the hanger, Lance’s breathing halting as he tries to ride out the queasy feeling in his gut. It wasn’t from flying, but rather from when someone in the castle eventually notices what he was doing. It took about three minutes for them to land, Red maintaining a breakneck pace while prowling the grounds around the castle.

Lance made a few attempts to redirect them, but gave up rather quickly. He thought this was much like a child sticking their fingers in their ears to ignore an authority figure, and he was quite impressed that he didn’t feel like the most immature figure in the vicinity.

The lack of being in control gave him time to look around, or in this case, snoop. It was only natural over their time piloting the lions that each would become a bit more personalized. Assorted objects littered Lance’s own lion, from sentimental memorabilia to a handheld game or two. He had no idea what sort of things could be in Shiro’s, and he could only guess what sort of modifications Pidge had continued to make to the Green Lion. Hunk boasted mostly about his diverse collection of emergency snackage, a supply the rest of the team pined for jealously on long missions.

The lack of… well, anything, really, surprised Lance. Inside Red was about as clean and barren as it likely was when Keith first bonded with it. The trespassing paladin nearly gave up looking, too, until he felt smooth leather under his fingertips as he grazed the underside of his seat.

“A book?” Lance remarked to himself, raising an eyebrow. He opened the cover in record time, and began scanning for embarrassing secrets, naturally.

_Today was fine I guess. Nothing special. I wouldn’t even bother writing about it if Shiro didn’t insist that keeping some kind of log would be good for my health. He seems to think I can better manage my anger by writing it out. I’d much rather manage it by smashing training bots, but that apparently isn’t the right answer. If I keep this thing hidden in Red I shouldn't have to worry about anyone finding it, so I guess I'm relying on a centuries old space lion to safeguard my diary or whatever.  
_

Lance stopped reading for a moment, trying to steady himself as Red begins making radical leaps across whatever planet they were currently inhabiting. He suddenly understood how Hunk felt, riding alongside him in the training simulator back home.

“Hey, hey! Would you cut that out! I’m trying to read here!” He called, and he could only assume Red could understand him. Or at least, he hoped it could, since the two of them weren’t exactly linked like he and Blue were.

As though answering him, the Lion began slowing it’s frantic movements, actually giving Lance pause to think as he shuffled through a couple more pages. Did Red know what this thing was? Lance began to think that maybe the Lion was warning him to not read any further, and for the first moment since he got in here, he began to seriously regret what he was doing. Sure, Keith pissed him off, but invading his privacy like this and stealing his sacred lion likely wasn’t a healthy way to deal with his problems. His self-awareness of the situation faded quickly at the mention of his name in the passage. In fact, his name came up more and more as time went on. Every time the team went out on a mission there seemed to be some mention of whatever antics he had committed, and he wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or mildly creeped out.

_Lance seems to hit on anything that moves, and I’m not sure why it pisses me off so much! Shiro said if there were patterns in this journal then it meant I could identify problem areas and try to address them but I can’t do that if I can’t figure out what I’m angry about! His dumb face, his dumb voice, his dumb laugh, his dumb jokes… I hate him, but I also don’t hate him, so what exactly is this?_

Lance reads the passage over once more, a grin crossing his features. “So, Keith-ey boy is jealous, is he?”

Before the boy can gloat any further, he hears a ground shaking roar from Red, whom had been surprisingly quiet up until that point, alerting him to the presence of the Black Lion hovering before them, and although he can’t see Shiro’s face, Lance is willing to bet the man isn’t too pleased with him right now.

Red ejects Lance before he can even begin planning a believable excuse, leaving Keith’s log opened on the interior floor.

 

* * *

 

“He stole my lion?!” Keith yells, as though waiting for confirmation and daring anyone not to at the same time.

“Looks that way, but look, Keith, I’m sure we can talk this--”

“Talk about what, Hunk? The guy takes Red on some joyride because he hates me! What can we possibly have to talk about?” Keith rambles, stomping back and forth around his room like he were trying to leave a trail.

“Alright, man, I’m saying this because I said you and Lance were like brothers to me, and I meant that.” Hunk paused, sitting on Keith’s bed and gesturing for him to sit. He let out a big sigh before continuing. “I think I get what this is all about, and competing over Allura is seriously dangerous business. I mean, we’re a team, and staying close and all is kinda part of the gig, and we can’t have in-fighting like--”

“Hold on, what? You think this is about me liking Allura?”

  
“It isn’t? I mean, oh, yeah, it isn’t!” Hunk stands abruptly, stumbling over his words a tad. “I mean, I know what this is about, and you know what this is about, so why don’t you just say it and we’ll both be up to speed?”

Keith almost laughs, falling backward on his bed to look at the ceiling, figuring it will be much easier to come clean about this while not having to look Hunk in the eye.

“I’m not-- It’s not about Lance hitting on Allura, it’s that she… Isn’t me.”

Hunk waits a pause, and then another. Quite a few, in fact, so that Keith has to sit upward again to ensure he’s still in the same room. The Yellow Paladin blinks thrice.

“ _Oh_. You… _like_ Lance?” The disbelief in his voice is about as readable as the top letters of an eye chart at the optometrist.

“I-- Yeah, I think so.” Keith admits, attempting to crack his knuckles just to keep himself busy.

“It’s just that you two are always butting heads! Sorry, if you’re worried I’m gonna freak out on you, buddy, because I’m not. Just... _wow_.”

At this, Keith manages to at least maintain eye contact again. He could assume his sexuality probably differed now from what Hunk had previously imagined, although he still wasn’t solid on it himself. He was at least grateful for the lack of panic.

“Yeah, believe me, I know, and it’s Lance who started this whole rivalry thing, not me!”

“So, when he flirts with every girl he can and is constantly trying to get the best of you…”

“It makes me feel like utter shit.” Keith concludes, a bit harshly.

Hunk huffs a large sum of air. “Well, I don’t think he hates you, or anything. I think Lance is just... _Lance_ , and I got to be honest, now that I understand how you feel about him it makes a lot of things make a lot of sense.”

Keith cocks his head, almost afraid to hear more. “Like what?”

“Well, it’s just that you get a bit… _abrasive_ around Lance sometimes. He probably figures that you have some kinda problem with him, which makes him want to get under your skin even more.”

“So, you’re saying that I should probably--”

“Talk to him, yeah.”

“Shiro said the same thing, and I honestly can’t say I’m surprised he was right.” Keith stands, twisting a crick out of his neck as he tries to think of what he’d even say to Lance.

“Y’know, I can’t wait to tell Pidge she was wrong about the whole Allura thing, I mean, hoo boy, I knew that couldn’t have been it… All along, I mean really, I just had this sense, like--”

“Hunk.”

“Yeah, I know... I had no idea, and your secret is safe with me. At least until you talk to Lance, no offense, I’m just awful with secrets.”

Keith cracks a genuine grin at that and moves toward the doorway before it opens before him. Standing in the hall is Shiro, tugging a very reluctant and beet-red Lance along with him.

“Keith, with me.” Shiro orders. “It’s time you two talked this out and we put this whole mess to bed.”

Keith turns in time to see Hunk drag his finger across his neck and then dramatically collapse upon Keith’s own bed.

“I’m just kidding! Good luck with the chat you two!” Hunk calls out to the sound of footsteps retreating down the hall. He exits Keith's room eagerly, anxious to see the look upon Pidge's face when he reveals what all this tension has really been about.

 


	3. Chapter 3

    Shiro marches Lance down towards the middle of the Training Deck much like a disappointed father, before looking behind him to make sure Keith is still in tow, with a gaze that chills Keith straight to the bone.

    “Okay, you two have things to discuss, and don’t bother leaving until it’s settled.” Shiro saunters back towards the door, placing a palm on the frame as he halts inside the open doorway. “Just… Be honest with each other. We have to be a team.”

    Keith sits in the center of the room across from Lance, hugging his knees and managing to glare at everything in the room that isn’t his fellow paladin. Lance seems neither surprised nor willing to do the same, choosing instead to glare directly at Keith as hard as he can, as though his eyes would eventually bore a hole through him, all while wearing a pout.

    Both are wearing the headgear from their last team building exercises, the one meant to meld their minds and display their thoughts like open books. Thin holo-screens appeared before them both, each containing the visage of the boy sitting in front of them, covered in bruises, or in Lance’s case, covered in inappropriate graffiti.

    “ _What?_ ” Keith snaps, breaking his vow of no eye contact to shoot an acid scowl Lance’s way.

     “Nothin’.” Lance remarks nonchalantly, not giving Keith the benefit of eye contact any longer, staring instead at the ceiling as though baiting Keith to usher more information from him. Silently gloating that he knew something the other boy didn’t.

     “You are insufferable.” Keith moans.

     “So are you!” Lance retorts, breaking his smug facade for a moment. “Besides, I know what your problem with me is.”

     Before Lance, the image of Keith with his face tarnished with marker is replaced with the cover of Keith’s log-- journal-- diary?

     “You went through my stuff!?” Keith shouts, standing up swiftly with his fists up, very intent to make the bruised images on his thought monitor a reality.

     “Just a little…” Lance answers, scooting away from Keith as ungracefully as possible. “So, you’re _jealous_ of me, huh? Wish you had my skills with the ladies.”

     Keith takes a moment or two to register what was said, putting his fists down and wearing an expression of pure confusion. “ _That’s_ what you got from that? How far did you read, exactly?”

     “Just far enough to see the mentions of _this_ handsome devil.” Lance sticks his thumbs up, flashing a grin that surprisingly doesn’t sparkle like some cartoon character.

     “I’m not jealous of you and your pathetic panty-chasing!” Keith groans loudly, running a hand through his hair and contemplating ripping some out. “I’m jealous you’re not… You know…”

     Keith suddenly becomes pretty bad at this whole expressing thoughts thing, choosing instead to slump back down on the ground.

     Lance cocks his head, getting on hands and knees to lean towards Keith as closely and as annoyingly as possible. “I’m not what?”

     Keith’s screen flickers a couple times, from images of Lance in a variety of life-or-death situations, to images that are genuinely flattering, from Lance’s wide smiles to his most devious of smirks, to scenes of Lance standing proudly in his armor.

     Lance, likely for the first time ever, reads in-between the lines. “You think I’m hot!” He laughs, no, _giggles_ at that, nearly throwing himself on his back to laugh some more at the growing redness on Keith’s face.

     “Like hell I do!” Keith yells, still blushing and looking about three seconds away from pouncing onto Lance and mauling him to the best of his ability (which unfortunately, is not a euphemism.)

     “Dude, chill, you’re hot too.”

     At this Keith deadpans, ceasing his violent advance to sit cross legged upon the floor, taking off his headpiece and tossing it across the room. “I’m _what?_ ”

     “Yeah, you’re hot. Y’know, attractive? Appealing? _Bangable_?” Lance snickers at that last one as Keith turns away from him again. “Why do you think I have so much fun messing with you all the time?”

     “I figured you hated me or something! You’re always calling me your rival and trying to prove how much _better_ you are than me!”

     “Well, yeah, but I’m just competitive by nature! And besides, competition combined with attraction is pretty damn fun, dont’cha think?”

     Neither boy says anything for the next couple beats, and Keith is about to open his mouth when he gets interrupted.

     “I’d have hit on you if I didn’t think you’d have some kinda aneurysm. You’re not the most _open_ or _friendly_ of people.”

    “Shut up, Lance.” Keith remarks, somehow with zero malice and the beginnings of a smile.

     “See? And I see you smiling!” Lance laughs, genuinely pleased with himself for making that happen. Keith was actually pretty cute when he wasn’t a total asshole.

     Keith stands up, beginning to head towards the nearest door. To his surprise, it opens at his approach, and it takes him a second or two to register that someone must have been watching them in order to unlock the door at such a precise moment. The mortification sets in fast.

     “Keith!”

     The Red Paladin turns around in time to see Lance, still wearing his headgear, display an image of their two likenesses, lips locked, with Dream Keith snaking his hand up Dream Lance’s shirt.

     Keith hightails it out of there, leaving Lance to collapse with laughter in an empty room.

 

* * *

  
    Pidge wipes a few tears from her eyes, trying to ease the pain in her stomach as Hunk tries to catch his breath.

     “That… was the funniest thing I have _ever_ seen.” She laughs some more, attempting to calm down. “Have you ever seen Keith get that embarrassed before?”

     “No!” Hunk chuckles, standing from his place on the floor on the control room. He watches Lance give him a knowing look before following Keith’s exit. “He saw me!”

     “He did? Better hope he doesn’t tell Keith, he just might kill us.”

     The pair laughs some more, Pidge removing some portable memory gadget from the console. “ _This_ is some grade A blackmail.”

     Hunk raises a finger to his lips, a shushing noise turning into a startled yelp as Shiro’s hand rests upon his shoulder.

     “I think I’ll take that.” The man commands, a smile on his own face.

     “So, how long do you think Keith will avoid Lance?” Pidge proposes, handing the storage device to Shiro and heading out the door.

     “About as long as he can until Lance hunts him down, or until we need Voltron again.” Hunk follows, grinning.

     “Sounds about right. At least Keith finally got that off his chest, he’s had it figured out for at least the past week.”

     At this, Pidge turns on her heels. “Wait, you _knew_?”

     “Of course I knew. I’m Team Leader, guys, I have to have an intuition about my fellow Paladins, don’t I?”

     Hunk and Pidge don’t quite accept his answer, raising eyebrows at Shiro and then at each other.

     “Okay, so Allura and her mice figured it out from the way Keith looked at Lance, but I had my suspicions!”

     The three laugh and finally depart.

 

* * *

  
    The next week proved to be utter _hell_ for Keith, because everywhere he went, Lance tried to follow. He was just as competitive, and annoying, but he was also suddenly so flirtatious, taking every moment he could get to inch closer to Keith just a _little_ beyond what was normal. It was driving Keith absolutely furious, but what pissed him off most was that, well...

He liked it. A lot, in fact.

Of course, he could never tell Lance that, so he did his best to hide his enjoyment of the newfound closeness, although he failed miserably to hide the heat on his face whenever Lance seemed to even come near.

The rest of the team almost felt bad for Keith, but on the other hand, they were just glad the two weren’t constantly fighting. Well, they still fought, and quite often, but in a different manner. A close relationship sort of way, and it seemed to everyone they were at least starting to get along.

 Actually, after their encounter on the Training Deck, Keith was left a little more than lost on what sort of relationship Lance even had with him. I mean, they didn’t antagonize each other beyond reasonable levels, so they were in some sense of the word, _friends_ . Yet, Lance hit on him every chance he got and seemed to derive some sick sense of amusement from seeing Keith _squirm_ . They weren’t dating. They couldn’t be… could they? Was this a transitional period? I mean, they were both clearly attracted to each other and had admitted as such, but did Keith _like_ Lance or did he just recognize he wasn’t the most unappealing guy he could have the mispleasure of looking at, which was a dramatic understatement, because the more Keith really looked at Lance the more he found himself utterly intoxicated by his features, and that definitely terrified Keith, who had spent a good chunk of life by himself, so the prospect of having an interest in someone, yet alone a crush, a _romantic_ interest, hell, maybe even a _sexual_ interest, was borderline insane and definitely belonged filed away in the _unfamiliar_ category.

 After much thinking, Keith decided it probably best to get that conversation out of the way, because he had far more questions than answers and this was definitely worse than before he told Lance he kinda had the hots for him.

 Unfortunately, Keith chose to begin this conversation after flipping Lance onto his back after the boy tried to surprise Keith by leaping onto him, shouting: “Piggyback ride!” before a violent exhale of all the air residing in his lungs as his back met the floor.

 “ _Shit_ , Lance, you can’t scare me like that!” Keith snapped, forgetting momentarily that he sort of had feelings for this boy and could stand to be a little nicer.

 Lance attempted to reply, but it just sort of came out like the sound that comes out of tires with a hole pricked in them.

 “I mean, I’m sorry.” Keith reached a hand out to help the boy up, feeling guiltier by the second, rather than furious, which definitely made his hands clam up.

 “Nah-- It’s… good. My fault, bad… idea.” Lance seemed to be catching his breath, and since this was probably the only instance where Keith would have time to fully get out all he was thinking without being interrupted by Lance’s motormouth, he took in a large breath.

 “Do you like me?” Keith’s eyes widened, realizing he probably skipped a line or two in his planned dialogue and made a fervent attempt to jump back to before this conversation ever happened, hoping maybe he had unlocked some form of space magic time powers in the last fifteen seconds.

 “Er--”

 “I mean, I know we both admitted we’re attracted to each other, but do you _like_ me? Because I think I like you, even though you’re probably the most annoying person that I have ever met and you make my life a living hell--”

 “Thanks.”

 “But I mean, also sort of in a good way? I have fun with you, which is weird to me, believe me, because I’ve never been the best with people which you definitely know by now, from that whole loner vibe I have going on--”

 Lance starts to laugh but covers his mouth, remaining oddly respectful of a very disoriented Keith spilling his feelings out to him like a soda can that got dropped a couple times before it was opened.

 “I like you.” Lance interrupts, and it takes until now for both boys to notice that Lance never actually let go of Keith’s hand when he helped him up, and that is immediately awkward for both of them. “Look, I’m sure this is a huge shock, but I haven’t really dated anyone before.”

 It is now Keith’s turn to withhold his laughter.

 Lance continues. “I hit on girls a lot, and I like girls, I do, but I mostly do it out of habit now, really...  It doesn’t always mean anything, but when I talk to you or think about you there’s all sorts of feelings there and that’s sort of a first for me, too.” He finally lets go of Keith’s hand, ignoring that it has gotten very sweaty by this point, and begins to rub at the back of his neck with his now free hand. “You’re kind of an asshole, but not always in a bad way, does that make sense?”

 Keith really doesn’t want to admit it, but it actually sort of does. “So, ‘you’re an asshole, but you’re _my_ asshole,’ kinda thing?”

 At this, both boys begin to laugh rather hard. It’s nice. More than nice, actually, and Keith couldn’t be more surprised with how well this whole _discussing your feelings_ thing actually works.

 “Are we... boyfriends?” Keith proposes, clearing his throat somewhere in the middle quite violently, as though an actual toad had somehow creeped down there in the middle of this conversation.

 “Yeah, boyfriends.” Lance’s brain begins to process that he just agreed to be in a relationship with his sworn rival and attempts to shut down, which certainly isn’t good from any medical standard, but the Paladin shakes it off as he turns on his heels and begins down the hall.

 Keith isn’t quite sure how to eloquently express his reaction to what just happened so he merely waits a pause as he slowly remembers how legs work. “Neat.” He follows Lance down the hall.

  



	4. Chapter 4

    It took the rest of Team Voltron at least a week to fully accept that what they were witnessing wasn’t the result of some space fever dream. Once that was fully ruled out (through a series of tests going on in the background), then they all managed to be quite happy for Keith and Lance, who actually seemed quite happy themselves. Although, Pidge wasn’t entirely convinced they hadn’t been replaced by aliens, but that was a theory for another day.

    “I hate you so much.” Keith grumbles. Not the most polite thing to say to your boyfriend, but there was this unspoken connection between them now that told Lance when his angry outbursts were coming from a place of truth, or whether he was just playing along as usual.

    “Eat my ass, Keith.” Lance drives the point home by wiggling his eyebrows intensely, as though being subtle would quite literally kill him on the spot, and by the look on Hunk’s face, it did not go unnoticed.

    “Ugh, Lance, could you not?” Hunk asks, although he is thoroughly amused at the blush growing on Keith’s face. To the point where he almost wonders how he _survives_ Lance’s sexual advances, considering the innuendos tend to be incessant. Hell, had they ever…?

    He derailed that train of thought as quickly as he could, paying no heed to however many passengers might have been on-board.

    “Sorry, just messing with my _boyfriend_.” He says that like a dirty word now too, because he knows it makes Keith just a little bit happy hearing it aloud, and that influx of emotion is always a surefire way to get either a kiss or a smack on the back of the head.

    Thankfully, he gets the response he was hoping for when Keith presses his lips against his cheek. It’s short, but the act is entirely too sweet for anyone else in the room to feign disgust to tease them, Pidge even looking up from a cluttered console screen to let out an “Aww...”

    The laughter begins again when Keith smacks Lance on the back of the head, gently, but hard enough to make his point clear. Sneaky, using both options, and the sweetest one first to lull the boy into a false sense of security. They were both quite impressive at tormenting one another, and neither boy would have it any other way.

    Shiro was happy to see Keith happy, although perhaps a tad ashamed of himself for not catching on sooner to his feelings about Lance. He considered himself close to Keith, so much so that not being able to read him must have meant he weren’t paying enough attention. Surely, he could warrant himself some bit of slack, having to look after an entire team of people working together to save the entire galaxy, but that just wasn’t how Shiro worked.

 

* * *

  

     At first, their budding relationship actually disrupted their connection to Voltron, and that wasn’t anything but frustrating. Everybody fought. Everybody shifted blame. Tension and stress always seemed to run a bit higher inside their lions, and it's not like the reason were unfamiliar to anyone, the moment they stepped inside their lions they were reminded of just what was at stake.

    The shift in their competition with one another was likely the culprit, being as the two had somehow forged a connection through their lions and to Voltron without ever really opening up to each other like the rest of the team had, which was impressive in it’s own right. A psychic connection based upon outperforming one another had shifted to a bond of emotion over-night, and the lions were understandably confused.

    “What if we explain that we’re… Y’know, a thing?” Lance proposes once, eliciting a groan from everyone but Shiro.

    “You think coming out to your lions will help us form Voltron again?” Pidge asks, laying the whole plan out bare and somehow managing not to laugh.

    “Well, yeah…” Lance scratches his head in his seat, a feeling in his gut settling that he recognized now as hoping Keith would have his back in this. He knew they didn’t always have to agree, and they often didn’t, but there were moments where he just needed blind faith, and that was a new mechanic to their relationship that Keith was still adjusting to.

    “That could actually work.” Shiro encourages, the comm link between the five overrun with questioning outbursts for a moment before returning to silence.

    “It’s worth a shot, I guess…” Keith answers, hoping for a second that this was one of those instances in which Lance just needed to know he agreed with him.

    It went quiet, Lance and Keith now concentrating on their connections to their own lions, pouring their thoughts out. They could recognize how their lions would respond, not through hearing words back, but instead, getting some sort of read inside their head that condensed an idea to the most understandable form possible.

    _Okay, so, Keith actually isn’t as bad as I told you before. Believe me, I hear how weird that is but besides being an asshole who’s way too perfect to be trusted--_

Lance hears himself think and frowns.

_I didn’t mean that. Keith isn’t an asshole, he’s just… He’s different. A good kind of different, and he’s talented, and smart, and handsome, and he’s not perfect because nobody is, but he tries and it’s really cute._

    A month or so ago, Lance would probably gag if he found himself thinking this way about Keith, although past Lance was just seriously in denial, he could see that now.

    Lance waits a beat to receive some kind of response from his lion, and it occurs to him for a second how oddly this feels like coming out to a parental figure rather than some centuries old weapon. Of course, he knew Blue wasn’t just a weapon, and there was some form of love there, though he couldn’t put it into words.

    Blue did respond. It was vague, and like always, a tad difficult for Lance to translate at first. It felt like acceptance, maybe a bit like happiness. Blue understood what he felt for Keith.

    “It worked!” Lance cheered, excited for equal parts his plan working and that Blue didn’t laugh in his face for falling for Keith of all people. Could the lions even laugh? He didn’t care about that now, he had plenty of time to bug the others with those sort of late night questions some other time.

    Keith smiled inside his own lion, grateful he had waited for Lance to finish first, so that he wasn’t wasting his time spilling his gay feelings for Lance for no reason. He took a deep breath.

    _Heya, Red. You’re probably a little confused, and trust me, I am too._

Keith pauses his thought, finding this feeling deep in his stomach of being watched suddenly unsettling, rather than comforting. That saddens him briefly. Is he really afraid of Red not responding well?

_I’m seeing more to Lance than I ever did before. Scratch that, I saw it before but I just pretended I didn’t, I guess. He’s sweet, and almost always smiling or cracking a joke. He’s always making people laugh or groan their head off, and I never realized how important that was until we really started to get in deep with this Galra business and I started feeling true fear for the first time. He just fills up a room with his presence, it’s amazing to see, now that I started paying attention to it._

     He realizes that he’s rambling, but Red hasn’t told him to shut up yet, and he took that as a good sign without bothering to question any further if Red even knew how to do that.

_Lance is special, and he’s special to me, and I’m glad I figured that out now, because it beats fighting with him all the time, and I hope you’ll help me take care of him because I think he’s gonna need it. He’s not hopeless, but he’s kinda close._

     Keith laughs to himself, realizing that everyone on comm can hear him only a moment later. Nobody questions him about it, strangely aware that he was still sharing an important moment with his lion. It’s moments like this that remind them all this all goes beyond science.

_So, what do you say?_

      Red agrees, and Keith sighs in relief.

     “Lance, I think your plan worked.” Keith finally breaks the silence, eager to hear Lance’s voice again. It had only been a couple minutes since he last heard it, but he found himself almost hungry for it, strangely enough.

     “I knew it!” Lance laughs gleefully, and Keith gets a feeling inside that must be his heart swelling, hopefully, only metaphorically.

    After that, the team manages to form Voltron as easily as ever.

  
  



End file.
